One of the things about January-February is that it’s the time of year when studios dump all their movies no one gives a crap about, thus we have plenty of time to speculate wildly about summer movies even though they won’t be out for six months. Case in point, yesterday, I reported a Collider story based on a tip from an insider, saying Bane’s unintelligible dialog in the Dark Knight Rises prologue (note: not the trailer, in which he’s pretty easy to understand), had been remixed, lowering the background noise and making it easier to understand.  Which seemingly would’ve been in line with what director Chris Nolan had said about it, that the plan was to alter the sound slightly, but not rework it altogether.

But now Collider has recanted their original story after speaking with IMAX and Warner Bros, who both confirmed that the sound mix has not been altered in anyway. (One of my Twitter followers saw the prologue last night, and reports that Bane is still all but impossible to understand). Meaning, I guess, that someone emailed Collider a fake story to screw with them. Because people do that? Dude, I don’t even… .

Now, let’s never speak of this again.

Read the rest of this entry »

"Come at me, bro."

UPDATE: After denials from Warner and IMAX, Collider has since taken down the story. It appears not to have been true.

Sound editors everywhere are probably thrilled to be part of the national conversation now that Bane’s unintelligible dialog in the Dark Knight Rises prologue has become the hottest story of winter. Last we heard, Chris Nolan’s plan was to “alter the sound slightly, not rework it completely.” But now, a source tells Collider that a new, re-mixed version of the prologue went out to IMAX theaters a few days ago. Ooh, I don’t know about this remix, I hope it’s not just the original with P Diddy saying “Ugh” and “Yeah” every few seconds.

“A friend of mine who is an IMAX projectionist told me they received a new soundtrack for the Dark Knight Rises prologue. He said it’s now a combo soundtrack with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, but the cool thing about this is that they’ve cleaned up the dialogue. They’ve gone in and lowered the background noise of the plane and other things, thus making Bane’s dialogue clearer and more understandable.

Read the rest of this entry »

As with all things Dark Knight Rises-related, we thoroughly dissected the fan reaction to the six-minute IMAX prologue that played before Mission Impossible, specifically the part about no one being able to understand Bane’s dialog. You can bet Warner execs have been hearing that same criticism, and studio people are skittish like coked-up chihuahuas when it comes to this kind of stuff. God help us all if they start trying to “fix” it.

Sources close to the movie say Warner Bros. is very aware of the sound issue. One source working on the film says he is “scared to death” about “the Bane problem.” And with good reason. The last Batman film, 2008’s The Dark Knight, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, and the studio doesn’t want anything to tamper with Rise’s chances for success.
Sources also say some at Warners would like Nolan to change the sound mix, but the filmmaker, whose autonomy is well-earned (his Inception earned the studio more than $800 million and eight Oscar nominations), has informed executives that he plans only to alter the sound slightly, not to rework it completely.
“Chris wants the audience to catch up and participate rather than push everything at them. He doesn’t dumb things down,” says one high-level exec, declining to be named. “You’ve got to pedal faster to keep up.” [THR]

What exactly would “rework it completely” even entail? Re-recording it and dubbing it back in like a kung fu flick? Boost the mid-range, drop out some background noise, and call it a day. Some of the stuff was hard to understand, but so be it. That just means fanboys will have to see it four or five times instead of two or three and end up liking it more. Trying to understand what he’s saying is half the fun. Why do you think I’ve listened to “Informer” so many times? I just assume Bane is going to make me boom boom down. And I like that.

"SUCK THIS CODPIECE!"

DURK KNIGHT DURK KNIGHT DURK KNIGHT! (*wheeze, inhaler*)… If you’ve suffered through badly-bootlegged prologues and photocopied script pages in order to get the faintest, frothy whiff of Dark Knight Rises musk, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Well, one of them, anyway. The Dark Knight Rises finally has an official trailer, with everyone you’ve been hoping to see — Bane, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and of course Hines Ward. Is it just me or does Michael Caine sound more Statham henchman-y than usual? “Oy made a focken promise to your muvver an favah, an now deez conts ‘as ruined it, now ‘asn’t dey.”

Read the rest of this entry »

"Come at me, bro."

I wasn’t one of the lucky handful of writers who got invited to watch the Dark Knight Rises six-minute prologue (which plays in advance of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol screenings at 70mm IMAX theaters next week), but among the journalists who did attend, the consensus seems to be that Bane is pretty hard to understand. (I’ll put some more spoiler-y details after the jump).

“And prepare to scratch your head at much of Bane’s dialogue, which had most everyone in Thursday’s screening asking each other how much, if anything, they could understand. I did catch one moment, when someone asks Bane if he’ll die should his now widely seen mask be removed. Bane’s reply: “It would be extremely painful — for you.” -EntertainmentWeekly

“…Bane himself, who’s almost impossible to understand due to his Darth Vader-y breathing apparatus and weird accent.” -I09

“It may be early in the sound mixing process, but a lot of key dialogue, particularly that of Bane, who speaks via a mask, was unintelligible.” -HollywoodReporter

A lot of people point out that it could just be an early sound mix, but it seems to me like the time it takes to mix sound is negligible compared to rendering much more complicated visual effects (also, would you really release a prologue with a rough sound mix?). And as long as we’re on the subject of Chris Nolan and Tom Hardy, I watched the Inception trailer and entire movie multiple times without being able to tell whether Tom Hardy was saying something about “vigor,” or “One musn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling.” (Apparently it was the second one, but no way I would’ve been able to tell you that at the time). I don’t think the problem is the mask, the weird accent, or the breathing apparatus, it’s Tom Hardy’s big, pillowy lips. Clearly those were designed for whispering sweetly while lightly brushing against your ear, not projecting to an audience. BUT THAT COULD JUST BE THE CHARDONNAY TALKING, AM I RIGHT, GIRLS??

Read the rest of this entry »